A Certain Kind Of Happiness
by ahsahsahs
Summary: Tate and Violet have been close for several years now, and this birthday, Tate tries to make it a special one.


Violet woke up to a loud thud. No surprise there, she thought to herself. Why did she expect anything less from her parents? It's not like she expected a happy family just because it was her birthday today. She brushed off the thoughts, got out of bed and got ready for another bullshit-filled day of school. Why should today be any different, right? Just another birthday gone to waste anyway. It's been like this since her fifteenth birthday, and every year after.

As she made her way down the staircase, she could hear her mother screaming at Ben. To her delight, her mom was defending her.

"It's her goddamn birthday, Ben! The least you could do is stay just for one day. Is that so hard? Are we that bad?"

"I have a patient waiting for me, alright? I'll leave after she leaves for school," Ben protested.

She walked into the kitchen, where the two adults were fighting, grabbed a sandwich and tried to make her way out of the house, before being called back by her mother.

"Violet! Happy birthday, honey!" said Vivien while trying to wipe away her tears of keeping her husband in the house. "Tonight, I'll take you out for dinner, alright? Just the two of us."

"That sounds great, mom," Violet replied, hugging her mom. "I'm going to walk to school today, so I best go now."

"Alright, honey. I love you."

"Love you too mom," Violet smiled sweetly back at her teary-eyed mother.

"Vi-," Ben tried, but before he could say anything, she left.

As she walked out the door onto the pavement, she heard someone call her name. Expecting it to be her father, she continued walking.

"Vi! Wait up!" she heard the voice repeat, finally turning around to acknowledge it.

To her delight, the person calling her name wasn't her father but it was the tall blonde haired boy who lived next to her.

"Tate!" she said full of excitement.

"You didn't think I'd let you walk to school on your own, on your birthday no less, did you?" Tate questioned, cheekily, before holding his arms out asking for an embrace.

"You remembered," Violet whispered shyly, before hugging him. "You know you don't even go to school anymore right?"

"Well, a girl like you requires a strong, buff, and not to mention extremely handsome armed escort to walk her to school."

"Whatever, loser," she laughed, as he put his arm around her and walked towards the school.

* * *

Once they'd finally reached school, she turned to him, staring at the blonde boy with her extremely huge eyes.

"Can't I just ditch school and hang out with you?" she pleaded. "I'd much rather be with you than them for the whole day."

"Listen to me, Vi," Tate started, placing his hands on her shoulders. "I know how much school sucks, trust me, but you gotta go okay? You skipped yesterday and the day before. One more day and the old hag will call up your folks asking where you are. As much as I'd love to be with you for your birthday, we can't. Anyways, _my_ old hag has asked me to help out around the house, so I'll be busy. But, I will come pick you up after school and we can hang out then okay?"

"Fine. You know, Tate, you're the only one that can convince me to go to school," she said, starting to turn her back on him and walk towards the school. But just as she was about to walk away, he grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him, and planted a huge kiss on her lips.

"Oh, I almost forgot; happy birthday, Vi," he smiled cheekily and walked away.

Violet stood there shock for a few seconds before turning around herself and walking into her own version of hell. She definitely did not see that kiss coming. Not that she didn't like it or anything, but just that that was Tate's first move on Violet over the 3 years of them living next to each other. Maybe today won't be as bad, she thought to herself.

* * *

She was wrong. School was complete shit, and she shouldn't have gotten her hopes high. But as the final school bell rang, she collected her things and made way for the exit. She _had _to see Tate. And just as he promised, he was there, leaning on his car, waiting to pick her up.

"Hey Vi," he said as he pushed himself off his old second-hand car and hugged her. "How was it? As bad as you thought?"

He opened the car door for her as she told him the events of her shit-ful day. He couldn't help smirking thinking about how worked up she got over some school kids. She was so beautiful to him. In his mind, she could do no wrong.

What she thought would be an awkward drive home, thanks to the odd event this morning, turned out to be the best 5 minute car ride she had. She loved how he was always there to listen to her rant about how her life sucked so much, without complaining one bit. All he did was play his music at a low volume in the background, listening to his two favourite things: Nirvana, and Violet.

Once they reached Violet's house, Tate quickly offered to walk her in. She thought this was strange at first, but maybe, just maybe, he wanted to sneak in another little kiss. But to her dismay, he didn't kiss her. Instead, he opened the door and walked her into her own house, leading her to the kitchen. Only when they reached the kitchen did Violet figure out what was going on. Hung over the island was a banner spelling out 'Happy Birthday Violet', whilst under it on the counter were presents and some finger food.

"Happy birthday again, Violet," Tate said, bending down to kiss her on her cheek.

Violet definitely didn't expect a surprise party. Well, if you could call this a party. Her mother came in through the dining room door, followed by Constance and Addie, with a huge smile on her face.

"Tate helped me do all of this for you. And no, you don't actually have to go out with dinner with me," Vivien said, before hugging her.

"Are you sure, mom?" Violet asked, guiltily.

"So sure. You don't worry about me, I'll hang out with Constance. Plus, I know one person you'd rather hang out with anyway," making a gesture towards Tate. "Go open your presents, then you two can take some food up."

After opening the presents, Violet followed her mother's instructions and, along with Tate, brought some food up to her room.

"You really did all this for me?"

"Why wouldn't I, Violet? You know how much I care about you. I just wanted you to have a good birthday, just this one time. Then all your other birthdays can be crap again," he joked.

"You're an ass," she laughed, and then adding, "but a sweet one."

After they'd finish their food, they both sat on Violet's bed and watched a movie that Tate had chosen on her laptop. But 20 minutes into the movie, Tate paused it, put the laptop away and sat up.

"Vi…" he started. Violet could sense he was nervous.

"Yeah?" she replied quietly.

"I have to tell you something. Well, kind of ask. Wait, I have to tell you something _and _then ask you something. Oh god…"

"Tate, calm down. It's just me. You can ask or tell me anything."

"Alright, okay, let's do this," Tate said to himself. He held both of her hands in his and looked deep into her eyes. "Violet, the day I met you all those years back, is officially the best day of my life. You changed my life for the better. The moment you moved into this house, you made this the better place. I care about you so much, and you have no idea how much it pains me to see you in pain. You have to know that I will never hurt you like that. Okay. Here goes. Well, Violet, I- I l-love… I love you. I always have. But I never knew when it was the right time to tell you. And yea... Oh! So, that was the telling part, now for the asking… Right. So, Violet, I love you and I want you to be mine. Do you want to be mine?"

"Tate…" Violet was speechless. She didn't expect any of this, but it's not like she didn't want him. All she's wanted was him. She always had. "Tate, of course I want to be yours! Of course, I do. You have no idea how much I longed for you to say those words. And, Tate? I love you too."

Tate held her face in his hands and kissed her, this time, more passionately. He was finally happy, and so was she. A violet coloured light had brightened his dark empty heart, filling it with love, joy. and a certain kind of happiness. He would've killed for this moment to last forever.


End file.
